Kyiv mayor and former world heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko declared Ukrainian citizens cannot retreat and will defend their homeland from the Russian invasion.
Klitschko spoke with reporters via Skype as the Russian invasion of Ukraine began its second week following Vladimir Putin ’s decision to launch the conflict last Thursday.
Russia have been shelling several Ukrainian cities with its main assault force remaining stationed just north of Kyiv.
“Thousands, already tens of thousands are killed in this war against Ukraine. And this number will unfortunately only grow," Klitschko told Reuters from a shelter he is working from in Kyiv.
“We are not going to surrender. We have nowhere to retreat. The situation is tense, people are worried.”
He revealed projectiles were constantly ‘hitting residential blocks or important infrastructure sites’, adding: “The city needs peace and peaceful skies... Kyiv residents have been in their basements non-stop for a week now because of air raid alarm going off all the time.”
Klitschko revealed that approximately half of the city’s three million people had left the Ukrainian capital, with authorities evacuating people to Poland and Germany.
Despite empty streets, food shortages and closed services including pharmacies, Kyiv was still faring better than Ukraine's north-eastern city of Kharkiv, which has been heavily shelled by Russia as they seek to take the city.
The southern port of Mariupol has also been left without power or water.
Klitschko insisted Russia was attempting to surround Kyiv and called on the Russian people to challenge Putin’s reign.
“You are an instrument at the hands of one man with one ambition - to resurrect the Soviet Union,” said Klitschko. “For ambitions of one man, we are paying a very high price.”
Putin has claimed the invasion - which he has referred to as a ‘special military operation’ - was deployed to protect Russians persecuted in Ukraine, a former Soviet republic which hopes to join NATO and the European Union.
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The Klitschko brothers have a Russian mother and believe Ukraine was a diverse home to Ukrainians and Russians as well as a number of other ethnicities and religions.
“It's senseless. There is no reason to attack Ukraine,” younger brother Wladimir said before highlighting how he spent the last week helping to circulate food and medicine around Kyiv.
“It's complete madness ... What is happening is terror. It's happening in 2022. It's something one's mind doesn't comprehend.”
“You don't know if you're going to make it through the day tomorrow. Those nights, hearing explosions all night long and shooting in the street, that does make you feel worried.”
Wladimir also called for the severing of all international business ties with Russia along with more sanctions after Europe, the United States and other countries cut links with Russian banks and businesses in retaliation for the invasion.
The Russian economy will suffer immensely as a result, and the younger Klitschko called for more as Ukrainians face desperate times.
“We're really counting hours here,” the 45-year-old said. “We have no time. We need to act now, we need to stop this madness.
“All the money that Russia is getting is being used to buy lethal weapons that are killing Ukrainians.”
